Jupiter-Bound Probe Changes Orbit in Deep Space

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NASA's Jupiter-bound Juno probe fired its main engine Thursday
(Aug. 30) to help set up a speed-boosting flyby of Earth next
year.

The engine burn — which took place when the
Juno spacecraft was about 300 million miles (483 million
kilometers) from Earth — began at 6:57 p.m. EDT (2257 GMT)
Thursday and lasted nearly 30 minutes. It appears to have worked
according to plan, changing the probe's velocity by about 770 mph
(1,240 kph), researchers said.

"This first and successful main engine burn is the payoff for a
lot of hard work and planning by the operations team," Juno
project manager Rick Nybakken, of NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said in a
statement.

"We started detailed preparations for this maneuver earlier this
year, and over the last five months we've been characterizing and
configuring the spacecraft, primarily in the propulsion and
thermal systems," he added. [ Video:
A Look at Juno's Mission ]

After another burn this Tuesday (Sept. 4), Juno should be on
course for its Earth flyby on Oct. 9, 2013, which will bring the
probe within 310 miles (500 km) of our planet. Earth's gravity
will give the spacecraft a big push, boosting its velocity by
16,330 mph (26,280 kph) and placing Juno on its final path to
Jupiter, researchers said.

Juno, which launched on Aug. 5, 2011, is slated to arrive at the
solar system's largest planet on July 4, 2016.

Once there, Juno will orbit Jupiter 33 times from pole to pole,
using its eight science instruments to peer beneath the gas
giant's thick clouds. (The spacecraft takes its name from the
goddess Juno, who was able to see through the clouds devised by
her husband Jupiter in an attempt to hide his mischief.)

The main goal of the $1.1 billion mission is to learn about
Jupiter's atmosphere, magnetosphere, composition and origins, and
to determine if the planet has a solid core, researchers said.

"We need to go to Jupiter to learn our history because Jupiter is
the largest of the planets, and it formed by grabbing most of the
material left over from the sun's formation," said Juno principal
investigator Scott Bolton, of the Southwest Research Institute in
San Antonio. "Earth and the other planets are really made from
the leftovers of the leftovers, so if we want to learn about the
history of the elements that made Earth and life, we need to
first understand what happened when Jupiter formed."

Juno will put another 1.4 billion miles (2.25 billion km) on its
odometer by the time it reaches Jupiter, Bolton said. The probe
is making its long journey powered by the sun — the first time a
solar-powered craft has ever traveled as far out as Jupiter.

The 8,000-pound (3,267 kg) spacecraft boasts three different
solar arrays, each as big as a tractor-trailer. The arrays'
18,698 solar cells will generate about 400 watts of power out at
Jupiter — the equivalent of four 100-watt light bulbs.

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